


Etude for Three

by Trismegistus (Lebateleur)



Category: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street - Natasha Pulley
Genre: Established Relationship, Family, M/M, Parent-Child Relationship, Post-Canon, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 04:50:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9703043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lebateleur/pseuds/Trismegistus
Summary: Thaniel, Keita, and Six learn how to accompany one another.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jain/gifts).



Six bent over the keys, her small form radiating determination. Too short to reach them properly from the bench, she was perched atop a stack of dictionaries Thaniel had secreted out of the Foreign Office. He only hoped he discovered a latent talent for instruction before anyone noticed they'd gone missing.

'Ready?' he asked. She nodded once without lifting her eyes, tiny brow knit in concentration.

'All right. One, two, three, one, two three.' He let his voice trail off, tapping out the count with his foot instead. Through a process of trial and error, they'd agreed to begin after two measures.

Six inhaled sharply on the eleventh beat and he stifled a wince, but on the twelfth her finger came down on the correct key as he struck the accompanying chord, and the first bars of Greensleeves spilled into the room. Thaniel watched from the corner of his eye as Six haltingly picked out the melody. He'd set a deliberately slow tempo, but she still struggled to keep time while remembering the notes.

He adjusted his pace as they went along. Six grew frustrated when she hit a wrong key or his playing got ahead of hers, and the first several times he hadn't known why it was happening or how to soothe her.

'She's afraid you'll lose patience and give up on her altogether if she makes too many mistakes,' Keita had said when he'd asked about it later.

'Why on earth would I do that? Of course she'll make mistakes, she's only just started learning.' Thaniel had been genuinely baffled. Then a different thought occurred. 'Have I done anything to make her think I would?' It might have seemed a silly question, but he was still unsure of himself as a parent, for all that he had been the one to insist they take Six in.

Keita gave him a penetrating look. 'You like playing alongside me, don't you? And I rarely make mistakes.'

'Yes?'

'She's jealous, Thaniel,' he said gently. 'It's why she wants to learn at all. And she's worried she won't measure up.'

Thaniel had wanted to say that that was silly, because teaching her and accompanying Keita weren't the same thing at all, but then he supposed it might not seem that way to a child. They'd been playing Dvorak that evening, Thaniel remembered, when suddenly she'd appeared at his elbow. 'Six wants to help too.'

A little pocket of warmth had unfurled in his stomach when he realised she'd addressed the statement to him, and not Keita as she usually did. He'd met Keita's smile and then they'd both scooted to the edges of the bench to make room for her between them.

'I'm going to make a new song,' she announced and stood up to reach for the keys. Her banging had sent starbursts of discordant color splashing across his vision until he'd finally had to escape to the bedroom. Keita had joined him there a while later and handed him a cup of tea.

'Perhaps you could teach her to play properly,' he'd offered.

And so their lessons had begun. It was exhilarating and nerve wracking by turns. It took him back to a time when notation, rhythm, and fingering were new and unknown skills. They'd been with him for so long, through years at the piano and then the telegraph, that he'd forgotten he'd once had to learn them, and he had little idea how to begin teaching someone else.

Yet Six was improving, so against all odds there seemed to be some merit to his attempts. Eventually, they reached the end of the first verse and the whole of Six's repertoire. Thaniel considered starting her on the chorus, then decided that could wait for another day. They'd made it through this session with no lost tempers or tears, and he judged it best to continue that trajectory as bedtime neared. He ruffled her hair and kissed the top of her head—something she'd only recently begun to allow—and rose from the bench. 'That was well done, Six,' he told her. 'Now, shall I go get Mr Mori?'

'Yes,' she said, and when he smiled at her, she smiled back.

It was a routine they'd worked out over last several weeks. Thaniel would give Six her lesson, then Keita would join her at the piano to make up new songs until it was time for her to go to bed. The promise of Keita's appearance had a salutary effect on Six's desire learn while mercifully freeing Thaniel from the noisemaking she truly relished. 'I'm a human, not a prize,' Keita had said crossly when Thaniel had first suggested it and explained why he thought it might work, but he could see Keita was pleased all the same. 

The evenings were growing warmer as summer drew on. Thaniel let himself into the garden to watch Keita's fireflies while he waited for the two of them to finish. Eventually he heard the sound of the door opening, but when he turned to go in, he saw Keita pushing through it with a cup of tea in each hand.

'You put her to bed without me?' It wasn't an accusation, and he mostly managed to keep the disappointment from his voice.

'She fell asleep while I was finishing up in the kitchen,' Keita said apologetically. 'I thought it best to tuck her in without waking her again.' Thaniel supposed he had best trust Keita's memory on that count. Bedtime had become a struggle recently, and he should probably be grateful tonight's had gone off without incident.

He accepted the cup from Keita. 'Thank you,' he started to say, and then, 'But it's cold.'

The corners of Keita's eyes crinkled. 'Yes, try it.'

The liquid was a deep brown. Thaniel brought the glass to his nose and took a cautious sniff. When that failed to shed any light on its contents, he took an experimental sip. 'It's good,' he said in surprise. 'What is it?'

'Barley tea,' said Keita. 'It's a tonic against the summer heat.'

They sipped in comfortable silence. Gradually chirping night insects replaced the sounds of the evening's last foot traffic. Thaniel let it wash over him as he wrestled with what he wanted to say to Keita about Six, and the way she was with Thaniel and with him. Finally, he settled on, 'I can take care of it, tonight, if she wakes up again.'

'Actually, I do understand,' Keita murmured. Then he straightened, and sighed in exasperation. 'That isn't what you meant to say at all, was it?'

But Thaniel was not about to be redirected. 'Understand? Why? She's much easier with you.'

'Mm,' Keita said, and shrugged into the twilight. By now, Thaniel had been at Filigree Street long enough, and had dealt with enough of Keita's countrymen at the office, to know the syllable meant no further elaboration would be forthcoming. So he was surprised when Keita continued.

'You taught me, you know. To play. Only I can remember it, so it's all already happened.'

He blinked. 'You'd rather it hadn't?' The thought felt strange to him. He had liked learning well enough, but it was nothing compared to the joy of the music just flowing out of him. He would have skipped straight to that, had it been possible.

Keita tilted his head to the side. 'Well, yes. It isn't easy, to not have the whole of someone's attention.'

Thaniel laughed softly at that, and took his hand. They sat until it grew too dark to see. Then they went in and made their way up the stairs, careful so as to not wake Six. When they paused outside her door, Thaniel could hear her breathing, slow and even. They stood for a moment, listening. Then Keita squeezed his hand and led him into their bedroom.


End file.
